LBGT Group Outs Itself

December 8, 2010; Source: New York Times | A group that won’t officially start up until 2011 to promote the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LBGT) individuals around the world outed itself on Wednesday. It put up a teaser video on its website, allout.org, as well as on YouTube, to provide a preview of its future work and what it hopes to accomplish. Watch the video below.

According to the New York Times, All Out is an initiative of an ad agency, Purpose, and its standalone foundation, that concentrate on working with advertisers and nonprofits on cause marketing campaigns. This latest effort—which follows an earlier campaign to promote electric cars—is designed to build support for LBGT people all over the world, and especially in countries where much more needs to be done to advance the cause of sexual orientation and gender-identity rights.

All Out’s goal is to fill that gap, says Jeremy Heimans, Purpose chief executive and foundation president. Claiming that “there isn’t a strong, powerful voice for L.G.B.T. people in many parts of the world.” Heimans adds, “It’s almost the last frontier of human rights.” Carla Sutherland, director for the international sexual orientation and gender identity rights program at Arcus in New York, which is supporting All Out with a $125,000 grant, agrees with Heimans that more needs to be done. “Sexual-orientation and gender-identity rights-based work is one of most under-funded efforts in the world,” she said.

Sutherland notes that some $2500 million is spent on LGBT issues in the U.S. alone, compared to just $20 million in countries outside Europe. She is hopeful that All Out, which will solicit small donations from people all over the world, will add up to making a big difference. The nearly two-minute preview video features people in different countries holding up signs that say why they’re “going all out.” Reasons include “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”—Bruce Trachtenberg